Guilt
by OnlyANorthernSong
Summary: Guilt was something that Predators couldn't feel if they wanted to survive. Sorta Rachel/Tobias


I wanted to write an Animorphs fan fic, so there ya go.

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Guilt. It wasn't something a predator should feel. Tobias rustled his wings, eyes searching the clearing for a meal. For a scurrying bunny, or a fluffy little weasel. His sharp eyes found a rabbit making it's way through the tall grass, and his wings spread. The wind kissed each individual feather, then he gently flapped his wings, and he rose. He soared for a moment, enjoying the thermals blowing him smoothly, then curved his wings downward, and began to dive. His shadow was on the rabbit seconds before his talons ripped into the flesh. There was no time for fear.

Guilt. It wasn't something a predator should feel. But, as he feasted on his meal, the glazed eyes of his prey watching him, guilt swelled in the stomach of the hawk. Of the hawk that had once been a kind, sensitive young boy. The sharp, always-angry eyes hid softer eyes, that moistened as blood crusted on his beak.

/Tobias?/ The hawk's head snapped up, as an osprey landed beside him.

/Oh. Hi, Rachel./ He felt more guilty now, with the carcass of a bunny laying still beside him. But Rachel didn't even look at it.

/Hi. I've been looking all over for you./

/I've been here,/ He answered, feeling defensive.

/I have to unmorph real quick. It's near the limit./

/Okay./ From the osprey, came the beautiful Rachel. The feathers melted into skin, and a skin-tight leotard. The feathers near the head stretched, grew, and thinned, until they were strands of blond hair. The talons stretched, and smoothed, and they were bare feet. The beak was sucked back into pale pink lips, and the cold eyes of the osprey shrunk, and were blue, and worried.

"Jake's worried. We all are. You weren't at the last meeting."

/I watched from outside the barn. If there was anything important-/

"That's not the point. For all we knew-"

/What? Poor Tobias could have been eaten, or killed, or-/

"You know that there are Controllers constantly on patrol here!" Rachel snapped.

/And what would they find, huh, Rachel? I'm not an Animorph anymore./

"Yes, you are!" She replied incredulously. "Just because- just because-"

/An Animorph- by it's very name- means someone who can morph animals, Rach. I can't. I'm not an Animorph. I'll help if I can, but I can't acquire DNA- I can't morph into me. This _is _me./

"Tobias-"

/I'm a hawk, a predator, and I'm used to it./ Her eyes flickered to the dead bunny. Cold rage burned within the small red-tailed hawk. /Yea. I killed Thumper, Rach. And you know what? I do most every day. I do it so I can survive. I can't just go to the Mall, or to Wal-Mart, or-/

"I know, Tobias!" She shouted. He actually jumped a little in surprise. Her eyes lowered. "I know, Tobias."

/Just get out of here./ He told her bitterly.

"Will you come over to my place- I mean- if you..." She trailed off. 'If you stop being all weird' was what she was probably going to say.

/Maybe./ He answered. It was the best he could say. He wouldn't promise anything. Her skin already had patterns of feathers on it, and her lips were hard. Her eyes were sharper, and she was shrinking slightly. Her arms began shrinking, and sprouting feathers, and her bare feet hardened and became talons. And she was an osprey.

/I'll see you?/

/Maybe./ He repeated. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but then she turned, and batted her wings. Moments later, she was riding the thermals. Tobias stared after her, then turned back to the dead body the ants had discovered.

Guilt was nothing new to someone like him- someone who had the standards and morals of a young, sensitive boy, but the instincts and life of an embittered hawk. Guilt wasn't something that predators should feel if they want to survive.

With thoughts of Rachel fresh in his mind, he plunged his beak back into the bloody carcass of the rabbit.

But guilt made each swallow difficult, and every memory of Rachel painful.

That night, he flew to her open window, and sat perched on it's sill. Guilt devoured him, just as he had devoured all but the bigger bones of that rabbit. And as he watched Rachel sleep, guilt bore into his brain like a yeerk.

Despite that, he was now a predator.

* * *

I don't own: Animorphs, Wal-mart, or Bambi.


End file.
